Star of the Masquerade
by Nectar of Life
Summary: It was a quiet Sunday for Lincoln Loud, but that all changes when Luna needs someone to sell cds at one of her band's shows. Quickly becoming an eye opening night that may change his life forever


Star of the Masquerade

* * *

It was a seemingly uneventful afternoon for Lincoln Loud. He had kept to himself for the majority of Saturday, so he decided that it was best to try and be around the house for today. Of course, that didn't really amount to much because his sisters were all off doing other things. It was the weekend after all.

He was passing the time by reading in the living room. Normally he would be in his underwear, but he wasn't really in the mood to listen to any complaints should his sisters come home. He was just about to turn the page to see if Ace Savvy could manage to escape a sinister trap when he felt a hard thunk on the top of his head.

"Ow!" He shouted as he turned around and noticed his older sister standing behind the chair.. "Luna! What was that for?"

"To catch your attention bro. You were so into that comic that you didn't notice me calling you." She said putting her hands up.

"Really? Gee, I didn't think this issue was _that_ interesting…" Lincoln said with a slight tinge of embarrassment. "What did you need?"

"Just a small favor, nothing big." She said nervously.

Lincoln raised an eyebrow, it wasn't like Luna to dance around an issue like this.

"Alright, what's the favor?"

"My new band has this gig tonight, and I need someone to be at the stand and sell the cds."

Lincoln just stared blankly for a bit.

" _That's it? Why would she use that tone if she was just going to ask something simple like that?"_

He wasn't even aware that she had started a new band, and she certainly didn't tell him that she had been performing.

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. What time?"

A grin formed on Luna's face and she did that gesture where it looks like you grab something and quickly pulled it towards you. What was that called again?

"Radical, thanks little bro! Be outside around 8."

And with that she ran off excitedly. As Lincoln watched her leave, he tried to remember the last time he had seen her play publicly.

" _I think it was her school talent show, but was she with a band then?"_ The fact that he couldn't remember made him feel bad. What kind of brother doesn't even pay attention to his sister's biggest passion?

This made him think of all the things he had done for his other sisters. He had helped Lola train for beauty pageants, he acted as Luan's assistant at birthday parties, he modeled clothes for Leni even when he didn't want to, and he was often a guinea pig for Lisa's several science experiments.

Thinking even harder, he constantly helped Lucy with her poetry, and Lynn with sports practice, he took Lily on several play dates, and always helped Lana with a random repairs around the house. He'd even helped his oldest sister Lori get a job arbor one point. But the only thing he could think of that he did for Luna was teach her the best technique to get money from their parents. An action that really backfired on him in the end.

"I'm not a very good brother, am I?" He said with a sigh, guilt surrounding him. "Well that settles it, I'll do my best tonight to fully support Luna and her band!...after I finish this comic book." He said as he went back to reading. Hey, he couldn't just leave Ace hanging.

It was around 7:30 when Lincoln walked out of his room. He had debated dressing differently, but he couldn't find anything in his dresser that looked like it would fit with Luna's image. He was starting down the stairs when a voice called out to him from down the hall.

"Hey Lincoln, wanna hear a joke?" It was a sister Luan, asking a question that had no answer because she would tell it anyway.

"Sure, I could use a laugh." He said with a shrug.

"What's the most popular book amongst vegetables?"

"What?"

"War and Peas. HAHAHA get it?" She said, laughing to herself in amusement.

Lincoln chuckled a little to appease her, but he felt the joke was pretty terrible.

"What are you up to right now anyway? I haven't seen you all day." Luan said, letting out a sigh from laughing too much

"I'm going to help Luna out at her show tonight."

"Oh? That's pretty rare of you." She said while raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well she asked me earlier and I didn't really have a reason to refuse."

"Alright, have fun with that then." She said as she walked back to her room.

Behind the door, Luan thought about what Lincoln told her, unsure of what to make of the situation. She and Luna had shared a room for their entire lives. She definitely felt like she knew her better than anyone else, and she knew for a fact that Luna had never asked Lincoln to come to any of her performances before. Admittedly, she wouldn't have wanted to go, but it was still weird that she went to Lincoln before asking her. Luna always asked Luan first. Something had to be up, she just wasn't sure what that it was.

Luan let out a long sigh and pulled out her joke notebook and began brainstorming new material for her comedy routine.

"I hope Linc didn't bite off more than he could chew...Oh well it's got nothing to do with me." She said to herself quietly.

Downstairs, Lincoln was having a basic conversation with his other sisters. Something about a sale that had happened at the mall or whatever. Shopping was never his strong point. He was a talented discount hunter when he needed to be, but it wasn't a hobby he enjoyed. Especially after his last super market experience with his sisters.

"And that's when I found the most AMAZING dress!" Leni said as she lifted up a brightly colored garment.

"You should have been there, she literally took forever debating between the dress and a pair of shoes. The clerks were afraid she was gonna be there for ever." Lori said with a laugh.

"They also had a huge sale on volleyball equipment. It's been ages since Lana shot the wrench through our last net!" Lynn said while shooting a glare at Lana.

"Oh come on, that was dad's fault for hitting the gas on vanzilla before I gave him the signal!" Lana exclaimed.

"Well it's still been like six months since I was last able to play!"

"It was winter anyway, you weren't going to play Volleyball."

"Not true, maybe I wanted to invent Snow Volleyball!"

It was times like these where Lincoln couldn't help but smile to himself. These moments of harmonic bickering with his family were what he cherished the most. Suddenly, he felt a hard sting to the back of his head, one that felt exactly like a certain hit from earlier.

"Luna! That hurts you know!" He said while rubbing the area.

"Perhaps, but I kinda like the reaction I get." Luna snickered. She stood behind him, a guitar bag on her back. "You ready to get going? We have a quite a long walk ahead of us."

"Where're you two headed at this hour?" Lucy asked, looking up from her poetry.

"I gotta gig tonight, Lincoln's gonna be the one peddling the merch."

"Ha, oh that's rich!" Lola said in a mocking tone.

"Hey, I think I can do a decent job of it!" Lincoln said in his defense.

"Please, you won't last five minutes Linky."

Lincoln started to get annoyed "Well I-Wait a sec, did you say walk?"

"Of course, walking to the venue is a fundamental part of the up and coming rocker experience!" Luna replied, determination in her voice.

"Like I said Linky, five minutes." Lola said smugly.

Lincoln was going to reply, but Luna pushed him out the door before he had the chance. The tavern was a twenty minute walk from their house, so they didn't have much time to waste. As they started down the block, Lincoln looked around and gave a soft breath. It was a surprisingly peaceful night, it must have been that Sunday charm.

"Hey, how did you convince Mom and Dad to let us go out this late on a Sunday anyway?" He asked, just now realizing the oddity of the situation.

"Pssh, that was easy little bro, all I had to do was telk em' that we'd be each other's chaperone. It worked like a charm."

"Really? How'd you know that would work?"

"You and I like to go separate ways, we're worlds apart even. So it would be unlikely that either of us would let the other waste too much time at some event."

"I don't think that's true…"

"Neither do I little bro, but Mom and Dad bought it. I came up with the idea a while ago, I just never had a reason to test it out before. " Luna said with a chuckle. "Worked like a charm."

Lincoln wasn't convinced. Were his and Luna's interests really that incompatible? He started comparing and contrasting. Lincoln enjoyed rock music quite a bit, but Smooch was definitely softer than Luna's style. They both loved DairyLand Amusement Park, but Luna was still willing to pick the mall over it when there was a sale going on, something Lincoln hated.

" _Maybe we really are worlds apart."_ He thought to himself as they carried on.

During the walk, Luna filled Lincoln in on some of the details. A few months back she had been asked by a few classmates to play guitar in a band they were forming. They'd performed at a few battle of the bands competitions around town before scoring a gig at a party. The owner of a hard rock themed club happened to be a guest at said party. He liked what he heard and gave them special permission to perform there on the condition that no one in the band would try to get alcohol. Allowing underage performers was a huge gamble on the owner's part, but Luna said something to the effect of "He likes the idea of being the first big break in the careers of young musicians." Since then they have been playing there every time a hole appeared in the lineup on the 18+ nights, which isn't wasn't as often as they would have liked, but still better than nothing.

"Tonight's gonna be extra special though." Luna said.

"Yeah, why is that?"

"We managed to score two sets, each an hour long!" Luna said, nearly shouting. It was already a semi-rare occurrence for a weekend time slot to be empty, two in the same night was nearly impossible.

"There's an hour break in-between where another act takes stage, but that's still two hours worth of material! We've never played that long before. So I'm stoked." She shot a quick glance to Lincoln. "Not to mention my favorite guy gets to see me perform in front of an audience for the first time."

Lincoln began to get nervous by this. "I hope I don't mess things up for you guys…"

"Nah, don't sweat about it bro. Be a fool for the night if you want, you just gotta stand by the briefcase, sell cds, and collect the occasional tip. It's on _us_ to make people wanna give up the green."

He let out a small sigh. "Well, I'm glad you're confident In me, because I'm sure not. Maybe Lola was right..."

"You haven't seen me perform when the moon is up little bro. I go wild and sparks will fly." She said, making an air guitar motion.

"Yeah, but what should I do? I've never been to a music club before, what if I trip or something and take the focus off yo-"

Luna lightly bonked him on the head before he had a chance to finish.

"Ow, what was that for Luna?"

She looked him directly in the eye and gave him a reassuring smile.

"It's only rock and roll little bro. Getting in tune is easy, just shake your hips and breathe any color you like."

"Are you sure?" Lincoln said while looking away, not feeling able to meet her eyes properly.

"You're hopelessly human, you know that?" She said with a giggle.

Lincoln turned his gaze back to her only to be greeted by a hug.

"I know you can do it. Just get through this night with me. I'll be your strength if you can be mine."

those words carried a sense of comfort and safety to Lincoln. One he wasn't familiar with and one he didn't understand.

"Alright, with your support, I feel like I can do it." He said, breaking away from the hug.

"That's more than a feeling little bro, it's your gut telling you that you got this." Replied Luna, giving an enthusiastic thumbs up.

As they began walking again, Lincoln started to wonder why Luna was putting so much faith in him. He was positive that he wouldn't have been her first choice for the job. He just happened to be the only person home at the time. His involvement just didn't make sense. He'd never been to any of her performances before, and he wasn't exactly the best salesman in the family. Maybe if he had said no, she would have just waited for one of their sisters to get home to ask one of them instead. She could have just texted them though, so maybe she really did want him specifically to be there tonight.

 _"Why me? Everyone else laughed at the very idea of it, yet Luna seems so sure."_ He thought back to what Luna had told him.

 _I'll be your strength if you can be mine."_

That was an odd thing for her to say. Almost uncharacteristic of her. Luna was plenty strong, especially compared to him. Just then, he remembered when she had asked him to come along. She _did_ seem nervous back then. Maybe there's some anxiety from the extra long performance? That would be the normal reason anyway. But if you're acting normal, you're not acting Loud. That was a dumb saying their father spouts, but it was surprisingly accurate.

" _Oh well, just get through the night Lincoln. It should all make sense after that."_ He told himself. He was so lost in thought that he completely failed to notice the ever growing sound of music they were fastly approaching.

"Take it in little bro, we're here!" Luna said excitedly.

Lincoln looked up at the building. It had a flat roof and the entire exterior was covered in red bricks. Above the doorway was a large illuminated theatre-esque marquee that read "Taliesyn" In big letters. There were four large windows on the building, two on each side of the door. They were boarded up and littered with posters for the various acts that had performed there in the past and would be performing in the future. There was a small box office by the door and a long rope line of people waiting to get in.

"Luna! There you are!" called out a voice that barely made it over the music.

The two turned to see a guy walking towards them. He looked to be roughly the same age as Luna, and he was wearing a leather jacket.

"We're on in 15 minutes and you haven't set up yet. Why do you always insist on walking here?"

"Chill, we got plenty of time. Besides, my place is out of the way for everyone. Me walking is the most convenient transportation for me."

"Whatever, come on. We need to get a quick instrument check for your guitar."

The guy lead Luna and Lincoln inside the building. The wall of sound on the other side of the door took Lincoln by surprise. It was already louder than he was used to on the outside, but the volume was insane on the inside. How did they even manage to do that? As they walked through the club, he took in the surroundings. The place was dark, illuminated by several stage lights in a vartery of colors. The whole building glowing in reds, blues, and greens. There was a bar to the left of the building, and a few tables along the walls, but the majority of the place was taken up by a large dance floor. The back of the building housed the stage. It was raised up about six feet from the ground and there were massive amplifiers all around it. To Lincoln, there was no mistaking it. This was the living rock culture he had only ever heard about.

When they got slightly passed the bar, Luna stopped and asked lincoln to stand by the wall. There was a guy stationed at a table with a briefcase on it, a variety of items displayed.

"This is where you'll be. My friend will come by in a few with our band's briefcase and tip jar. This guy here knows the drill, once his act closes he'll pack up and turn the table over to you. I gotta go now, see you in like an hour!" She shouted before running off, not giving Lincoln the chance to ask any questions or even say a simple "goodluck."

unsure of what to do, Lincoln leaned against the wall. He was standing about five feet from the guy at the table. He was watching the club goers party when he heard someone call out to him.

"Yo, you with Masquerade man?"

Lincoln turned and saw it was the guy at the table who asked the question.

"Masquerade?"

"Yeah, the act up next. Saw you come in with their guitarist."

"Oh, then yeah, I guess I am." Lincoln said, feeling dumb that he had never even asked what the band was called.

"First time doing this huh?" The guy said with a smirk.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Painfully. You should be fine though. Just hold out your merch and wave it around. Someone should want it. If their set isn't as good, you can always dance about and get overly enthused. People follow by example. They see you rockin' out, they rock out, and eventually they'll forget you started it."

"Isn't that, kinda dishonest?"

"Maybe a little, but once they listen to the cd at home, they'll probably think the night was great and try to catch their next show. It's all part of the trade."

Lincoln chatted with the guy for several minutes. He gave him a lot of advice on how to push local music sales as well as a general rundown of what to expect. Overall, he had one majorly important thing to say.

"Remember that at the end of the day, you're at a party. Just enjoy yourself dude."

Lincoln was about to reply to that when he got a tap on the shoulder. He turned to see a large british man whom he knew well as Luna's friend. He wasn't part of the band, but he transported all of their equipment.

"'Ere's the merch case and 'ere's the tip jar. You know what to do." He said before handing Lincoln the stuff and walking away.

Just as this was happening, the band on stage finished up. The whole club erupted in cheers as the stage lights turned off and professional radio music started to play. The guy at the table was rushed by about twenty people, all wanting to buy some merchandize from him. Once that crowd died down, he packed his things, gave Lincoln a goodluck wink and walked off.

Lincoln acted fast to set things up. He placed the jar to the front right of the table and laid the case dead center. He had a small box to put all profits in, which he hid behind the case, and directly in front of himself.

"Alright, I finished just in time for them to start." He said to himself, happy that he had done a quick and efficient job.

He switched his gaze when he heard the stage lights come on. Luna and the three other members of her band were all standing in position, ready to begin. The guy from earlier in the center, holding a bass. He stepped up to the microphone and started talking.

"Good evening Royal Woods, We're Star of the Masquerade!"

The clubgoers all clapped at his announcement, and after a barely audible countdown, they began to play. The music was loud and powerful, but also lighter than Lincoln had expected. He thought for sure that they would open with a hard song. But after thinking about it, he remembered Luna telling him something about the build up being important. As he listened, he felt the lyrics were kinda nice.

"Tomorrow is another day, spread your wings and fly away! Baby, free yourself tonight~"

The guy singing had a pretty good rock voice. It was just deep enough to create that deep sound to each word. Though, he felt a little disappointed that Luna wasn't the one singing. She had always been a great singer, the only one of their family to have any talent in that field. He made a mental note to ask her why she wasn't the vocalist as soon as he got the chance.

As he listened,he found it hard to decide what he should be focusing on. He wanted to he his older sister perform, but he was incredibly in awe at the scene around him on the dance floor. People were headbanging, dancing about, jumping around, and pumping fists all over. It was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. Here was probably a few hundred people all packed together like can of sardines in this small room, all having a great time while listening to his sister, the girl who he had known his entire life, play guitar. There was an unusual sense of proudness coming from his heart. Another new feeling to him.

"How is this the first time I've ever seen her shine like this?" He said softly.

"Hey man, I'll take one!" Shouted a voice in front of Lincoln, making him jump a little. He turned to see a guy, about 22 in age dressed in all black, holding out a ten dollar bill. The CDs were five dollars, so Lincoln was about to make change when he got stopped.

"Nah brother, keep the change." He said before disappearing back into the crowd.

Lincoln looked at the ten dollars in his hand. He had done it. He was actually able to help his sister earn money by doing the thing she loved most.

"That's right, let's do this. Let's make Luna proud!" He said as he threw his fist in the air.

Lincoln fell into a rhythm and became one with the crowd. The music serving almost as a source of constant inspiration to him. He rocked along and managed to get other people to join along with him. All the while selling more and more discs along the way. It was the most incredible energy he had ever felt. He was sweating, but he wasn't hot. He was panting, but he wasn't tired. He was oozing with enthusiasm and adrenaline and he never wanted it to stop.

They say time flies when you're having fun, and that definitely applied to this situation. Before Lincoln even realized it, the first hour was over and the band left the stage. He sold a few more cds before he noticed another guy coming up with a briefcase of his own.

"You the next guy?" Lincoln asked.

"You know it brah."

"Cool, I'll be done in a sec."

Lincoln quickly picked up everything and put it back where it originally was. He then traded spaces with the guy and leaned against the wall, the case and jar placed directly next to him on the floor. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

He was still amazed how well he was able to play his part in everything, and still incredibly impressed with the band's performance. But the weight of all his energy finally started crashing down on him. Would he really be able to take two more hours of this crowd before walking home? Just as he began to relax, he felt a poke on the side of his rib, causing him to jump.

"Yeeoww!" He turned to see what was the cause. "LUNA! Don't scare me like that!" He yelled. He didn't yell because he was angry, he yelled because he had gotten used to yelling to sound like he was talking at normal volume in the club. The sound may have been intense, but it wasn't difficult to adjust to.

"Hahaha, whatever man. Here, I brought you a soda." Luna said with a smile.

After all the yelling he had done, the soda looked like a miracle to him. He graciously took it and started gulping.

"So, I saw you having a ball out here. I told ya you didn't have anything to worry about!" She said while leaning against the wall directly next to him, almost touching shoulders. Getting that close was the only way to truly hear everything correctly.

"I'll say, you put on such a good show that these things basically sell themselves." Lincoln said with a laugh.

Luna stayed quiet for a second.

"...You think so?" She muttered, softer than her usual tone.

"Yeah, you were incredible out there!" Lincoln said, throwing his hands up. "It was the best performance I've ever seen!"

Luna looked down and blushed a little.

"Thanks...that really means a lot."

Lincoln let out another chuckle.

"I know I wasn't your first choice to come along with you, but I'm glad I you asked."

Luna's quickly snapped up and looked him directly in the eye.

"Is that what you really believe?" She said, in a tone that was somewhere between serious and sad.

"Isn't it true? You've never asked me to come here before."

Luna looked down again and took a deep breath.

"You know, I was really hoping you would enjoy it." She said.

"Why's that?" Lincoln asked, confused by her change in tone.

"Well, I've tried opening up and showing my music to our other siblings, but they never took interest. Luan came a few times, but I could tell she didn't really enjoy herself." Luna took a sigh. "I don't want to do that to her, ya know? I don't want to ask her to come around with me if she isn't really into it. That's just not the right thing to do to the ones you love."

"But she loves you, we all do. And doing things for the ones you love is what matters most, right?" Lincoln replied, trying to reassure her.

"Yeah, but I don't want them to be doing it just for that. More than anything, I want someone to be here because they believe in me and what I do." Luna looked like she might be holding back tears, but none fell. "I brought Luan to our first show here because I was too caught up in the whole idea to even think and she was right next to me when I got the call, but thinking back on it…" Luna stopped for a minute, listening to the other band as they played. She turned back to see Lincoln looking at her, waiting patiently to hear her out.

"When I think back on all of it, I wanted to bring you to our second gig. At that time I was more rational. Too rational. I noticed Luan's lack of enthusiasm a few days after the fact and thought that if anything, I didn't want to see that in you." She took a few deep breaths. "So I asked all of the others before you to try and avoid that. And the more I saw them lose interest at the shows, the more I started thinking that you wouldn't be different, and i couldn't stand that thought."

Lincoln stayed silent, doing nothing but listening to her talk.

"I felt like it was fine if all of our sisters hated my music, but if you did. It would be unbearable. So I never asked you, rather I avoided the subject with you. I'm sorry about that, it was real immature." luna said, obviously upset with herself.

Seeing her sad expression, Lincoln finally started to talk.

"Don't be, we all have people we want to impress, and fears that we won't impress them." He shrugged a little. "I mean, I was terrified that I wouldn't sell a single cd and would let you down. I hate the thought of you being upset and thinking lowly of me."

"I wouldn't do that." Luna said defensively.

"Well, I know that now. And besides.." Lincoln started saying before pulling her in close for a hug. "We're each other's strength tonight, right? I need to keep you strong so you can keep me strong."

Those words made Luna's heart skip. How could her own words be used against her with a stronger effect than she originally intended?

Before she had time to make a proper reply, she club broke into applause as the band on stage finished their set. Luna pulled away and look at Lincoln.

"That's my que, I gotta head back there and get ready to take the stage."She said with a small laugh.

"Alright, I'll be right here selling the cds for you guys."

Luna started to walk off, but turned around and came back to him.

"Hey, listen. Thanks, I really needed that talk." She said while rubbing her neck and looking away.

"No problem, I needed our talk from earlier too." He replied.

Luna got an almost awkward look on her face.

"Um…. I was super nervous about the second set already, but now I'm insanely nervous. So I'll need you to provide a lot of strength for me while I'm up there….and hopefully even more when I get back."

Before Lincoln could reply, she ran off.

"I wonder what that means." He said to himself before going to the table to set up again.

"High five! You're a smooth talker my man." Said the merchant for the other band.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Lincoln asked

"Psh, what do I mean, you totally just scored that chick. She's like, crazy into you!"

Lincoln gave him a confused look. "Luna? Into me?"

"Yeah man, totally. She wants you hard."

"You're mistaken, there's no way that's even possible."

"Whatever you say dude. But I've seen it a million times before, and this was possibly the most obvious case of it yet." The guy said as he walked off.

"That guy is crazy." Lincoln said with a laugh. There was no way Luna liked him like that, she was his older sister. Probably didn't even consider him a boy…..but what if she was? Lincoln wasn't sure how to feel about that concept. He had never even considered it.

He thought back to a time when he had taught her how to convince their parents to give out money. She had seemingly no issue with the others accusing Luna of being his favorite. True he argued with her less than with most of them, but that didn't make her his favorite, did it? And even then, why should she have objected that idea? She got what she wanted either way. Besides, didn't Luna like that girl Sam? She wouldn't even be into guys, let alone him….would she?

Lincoln decided that was the definitive answer. Luna didn't like boys, so there was no way she would be into him in any way other than as a brother. He laughed to himself as he finished setting up.

"What a silly thing to spend so much time thinking about."

He looked to the stage just as the lights were coming on and was immediately taken by surprise. Luna was in the center by the microphone.

"Wait, I thought that guy with the bass was the singer?"

"Nah man, i've seen them here a few times now. Usually their sets are about half'n'half. They probably split it up because of the double set tonight." Said a nearby spectator who happened to overhear.

A sudden surge of excited surrounded Lincoln. He had wanted to hear her sing all night and had seriously started to believe he wasn't going to. Now he was determined to watch the stage the entire time.

Luna pulled the mic stand closer to her and began to talk.

"How's it going Taliesyn?!" She said in an energetic tone, pausing to hear the crowds cheers. Luna's eyes found Lincoln in the audience and smiled softly. "When we heard we were gonna do a double set, we decided to make things a little special, so we've got a new cover for you all tonight!" Luna threw her fist the air as she said this, much to the crowds amusement. "So far the our night has exceeded all expectations, so lets get rockin!"

With that, she took a hop back and started playing. It was a much louder song than the one they used to open the first set, but it also had a softer feel. Must have been more build up. Did a band need to build up a second time? Well, it _is_ a different vocalist this time around. The song had slower, stronger lyrics at first. It seemed like a great fit for Luna's naturally raspy voice. Lincoln listened intently, still awestruck by seeing his sister sing and play guitar in front of a packed club. Then, the chorus hit.

"I wanna love you but I better not touch, I wanna hold you but my senses tell me to stop, I wanna kiss you but I want it too much, I wanna taste you but your lips are venomous poison~"

Luna's vocals were strong and passionate. She may not have written the song, but her stage presence owned it. It was almost as if the words were coming directly from her heart. But the subject matter got Lincoln's mind going back to the guy from before. Surely a kiss between the two of them could be considered poison, but there was no way she rehearsed the song intentionally for a night he would hear it, would she? Then, the second chorus hit.

"I hear you calling and it's needles and pins. I wanna hurt you just to hear you screaming my name, don't wanna touch you but you're under my skin, I wanna taste you but your lips are venomous poison~"

Those lyrics made the day flash before Lincoln's eyes.

" _I wanna hurt you just to hear you screaming my name"_

He thought back to how every interaction with Luna had begun that day. Each time she had caused him some form of minor pain. Nothing serious, or even as painful as what Ronnie Anne had done in the past, but enough to make him react. Each time he yelled her name in some way. It was at that moment that Lincoln realized. The song was about him. Luna was confessing her forbidden feelings to him publicly in front of hundreds of people by proxy of a song cover.

That revelation filled Lincoln with a variety of emotions. How long had she felt this way about him? How long had she planned this all out? How scared was she to actually go on stage tonight? How did he himself feel about her? Was this all just a coincidence? No, it couldn't be. Too much lined up for that not to be the intention.

Lincoln began to get scared by all of this, but when he looked up and saw Luna, his fears went away. At that moment, she seemed like the bravest person on Earth. She was emptying her heart on a stage, completely unaware how the object of her affection would react to it, and she kept going. The whole thing. The dancing club crowd, the backing band, and Luna herself. It was all just.

"Beautiful." He said to himself, a tear falling into his smile.

Unlike the previous set, this one took seemingly forever. Lincoln felt lost in a weird mystication during the whole thing. He didn't even notice that he had sold out of all the merchandise, or that the tip jar had completely filled. He was too busy in his own trance until the sound of the finale woke him up.

"WE'RE STAR OF THE MASQUERADE, GOOD NIGHT ROYAL WOODS!" Luna shouted as the last crashes hit and the stage lights shot off. Everyone i the club went wild. It was exactly the live performance one would go to a club to see and they were all fully energized.

It was now 11:30 and the club was still as lively as ever. Another band was just starting up and Lincoln stood against the wall with the empty briefcase and the overflowing tip jar, waiting for Luna while still mildly lost in his thoughts.

"Hey man, How'd we do?" Said a voice.

Lincoln turned to see Luna, her tall friend, and the rest of the band members walking up to him. Lincoln smiled excitedly.

"You guys were incredible! I sold every last CD in here! _AND_ the tip jar couldn't take more if we tried."

Everyone stared at the jar and money box with wide eyes. They had never done that well before. At most they were lucky to make about one hundred dollars, and on one instance they made two hundred. Add that with the four hundred the venue gave them and they usually made out with a hundred dollars for each of them.

"No way man, that's insane!" One Band member said.

"Yeah, you totally killed it! Best salesman ever!" Said another.

Luna lightly punched him in the shoulder. "Great job bro."

Lincoln blushed a little at the praise. He handed everything to the large guy, it was his job to count everything and distribute the even shares later on. They all walked outside, feeling the rush of the cool evening air blow all of the sweat and heat from inside the club. They said their goodbyes and Lincoln and Luna started walking back home.

Luna was extremely excited, talking almost nonstop about how it felt and where she knows she can do better for their next gig.

"It's gonna be all uphill from here bro, just mark my words. Luna Loud is going places!"

Lincoln laughed. He had never seen her this happy before, and it was a great look for her. But he couldn't shake off his thoughts, suspicions or feelings any further. So he took a gulp and brought the topic up.

"Hey Luna….before we walk any further, I need to ask you something."

Luna stopped walking and turned to him. Not really sure what he was going to say.

"Alright bro, what's up."

Lincoln looked at his feet, and then looked up at her.

"That first song you did….it was about me, wasn't it."

Time seemed to stop as soon as those words left his lips. Luna had a look on her face that was almost indistinguishable. Her heart frozen. After a while, she finally replied.

"Was it that obvious?" She said, shaking a little.

"Painfully."

Luna let out a growl and grabbed her head. "Dammit, I must have said too much to you earlier, you weren't supposed to figure that out!"

Lincoln gave her a puzzled look. "Is that what you really believe?"

She let out a sigh. "No. I wanted you to understand it. I guess I was just still afraid. I had decided if you were grossed out by it and confronted me hard with it, I would just toss it out as a coincidence." She looked in his eyes. "But I can't lie to you. I'm in love with you Lincoln, I have been for a long time."

"What about Sam though?"

"That didn't really work out. I did really have feeling for her though. The way I always looked at it, I don't really like guys, but you were always the one guy I actually loved." Luna looked like she was about to cry. She had considered that Lincoln would figure it out, in fact she hoped for it more than anything. But being confronted with it here and now scared her.

"Lincoln, I don't want to lose you over this. Please don't look at me differently." She said, closing her eyes.

She stood there, waiting to hear his reply, but it didn't come.

" _Did he walk away?"_

That idea hurt her heart. She wanted to find out, but she was too afraid to open her eyes. Then, it came.

"It's too late for that Luna." Lincoln said with a sigh.

Tears started falling out of her closed eyes. She wanted to talk, but her throat burned. She kept eyes shut to avoid the reality of the situation. She started singing in her head, trying to stay optimistic.

" _So many tears you can cry, 'til the heartache is over and you know your love can never die~"_

But then, she felt something. She opened her eyes to find Lincoln holding her to him tightly.

"It's too late for that." He said. "Seeing you on that stage was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen." Tears formed in his eyes. "You were shining like the brightest star in the sky, and now I can't see you as anything but that."

Those words filled Luna with happiness. She was so unsure, but now she felt instant relief. Lincoln looked into her eyes and kissed her.

The stood there, kissing in a warm embrace for what seemed like an eternity. Before finally pulling away to breathe.

"You were right about one thing though Luna."

"What's that?" She asked

"Your lips _are_ poison. In the most addicting sense."

They both laughed and kissed again.

"That's a piece of mind I can get behind bro."

The chain of their relationship had been broken a new one formed. Neither one knew what awaited them in the future, but they didn't care. They just didn't want that night to end.

* * *

 **I meant to upload this a day ago, but I got a little busy.  
**

 **Originally this was written as the third chapter of the ongoing story I am writing, but it quickly became far too sweet for that particular tale. So I reworked the entire thing. Removed all references to the events of the other story(Maybe you can figure out where they would have gone and what they would have been) and I gave it a new ending. The "Beautiful"line was the original ending, the rest was added when the switch was made.**

 **I hope you enjoyed reading this. The hardest part what adding more to Luna. She really isn't used all that often in the show, and when she is, it is often brief. I kinda like the gimmick that she references songs in her regular dialogue though, so I decided to do that here. There are lots of music references, all trying to keep to the hard rock/metal theme since those would be most like her. If you can find and name all of them without google, you officially have an awesome taste in music. If you need to use google, you're lame...but your transformation into not being lame has started, so congratulations.**

 **My original concept, even when this was for a different story was to use Poison by Alice Cooper, it's my favorite song ever and the line "I wanna hurt you just to hear you screaming my name" is my favorite lyric of any song ever. I knew I had to work it into Luna somehow. Sadly I now cannot use it for the main story, but oh well, it works better in a happy tale.**

This will probably remain a one shot, but who knows. I may expand on it later, not high priority though.


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